2017 Spring Chess Classic

Aleksandr Shimanov became an International Master in 2007. Two years later, he received his grandmaster title when he was just 17 years old. In 2013, he tied for 1st-3rd at the Nakhchivan Open with Gadir Guseinov and Igor Kurnosov.  GM Shimanov typically favors the Queen’s Pawn Game and Salv openings for white, and Caro-Kann and King’s Indian openings for black.

Sam Sevian is an American chess prodigy. He holds the record for the youngest ever United States Grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 10 months, and 27 days. He also holds the record for the youngest ever United States International Master at 12 years and 10 months; and the youngest National Master in USCF history at 9 years, 11 months, and 23 days. In 2012, he became World Champion in the U12 category. He achieved a 2500 FIDE rating during the Saint Louis GM Norm Invitational tournament with an impressive outcome of 7.5/9.

Sevian made his first appearance at the U.S. Chess Championships in Saint Louis, Missouri in 2013 as the youngest ever participant. There, Sevian placed in a shared 14th position out of 24 total players with a score of 4/9, beating out several grandmasters. He returned for another U.S. Chess Championships in 2015 and shared fifth place ahead of several well-known names in the chess world including Wesley So, a world top ten ranked player. His overall performance in the championship earned him a spot in the 2015 Chess World Cup.

Illya Nyzhnyk is a Ukrainian chess Grandmaster. He won Group B section of the 2007 Moscow Open at the age of 10, where he attained a nearly flawless score of 8.5/9;  his performance at that time was that of a Grandmaster with a rating of 2633. In 2007 he won the European Youth Chess Championship for under-12. That same year, Nyzhnyk placed second after a first place tie-breaker at the World Youth Chess Championship.  In April 2008, Nyzhnyk won the Nabokov Memorial in Kiev, Ukraine, with 8.5/11, and scored his first GM norm. Later that same year, he won the European Youth Chess Championship for the under 16 category. To wrap up the year, he placed 12th in the Ukrainian championship. That same month, he won the Schaakfestival Groningen tournament in the Netherlands with a performance rating of 2741.

In January 2011 Nyzhnyk played in the Grandmaster Group C of the esteemed Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee, finishing in second place with 8.5/13. That same year, he tied for 1st in the MP Reykjavík Open. He ended up achieving the grandmaster title the same year.

Ruifeng started delving into the chess world when he was 5 years old in Michigan. He won the Arkansas State Championship in 2011 at the age of 8, and later that same year placed second in the World Youth Chess Championships under-10 section. His early success landed him a spot in the Young Stars program in 2012—an elite youth training program designed to maximize the potential of rising chess prodigies in the U.S., coached by Garry Kasparov. Li went on to earn his National Master title a few months later. He received his IM title in 2015 and just recently earned his title as Grandmaster early in 2017. Ruifeng scored 7-2 at the 10th Annual Philadelphia Open which was held in March of 2016, taking home the gold. Ruifeng’s best results include several draws during major chess tournaments against world class players such as Fabiano Caruana, Gata Kamsky, Luke McShane, and Alexey Dreev.

GM Stukopin performed the Norm of the master in 2006 and obtained the title of FIDE Master later that same year. In 2009, his title increased to that of International Master. He then went on to participate in his first GM norm in 2012 at the Aeroflot Open tournament, and later attained his title as grandmaster in 2014. Stukopin studies at the University of Texas at Brownsville. Over the years he has had significant involvement in chess clubs in Russia and the United States. He is an active member of the US Chess League for the club Rio Grande Ospreys. Stukopin also represented his Russian club team Quiet FLows the Don in the Russian championship.

He typically favors playing the Sicilian opening for both white and black pieces, utilizing this method about a third of the time.

Paikidze was born in Irkutsk, Russia and has been playing chess since she was four years old. Raised in Tbilisi, Georgia, Paikidze quickly collected prolific wins at the highest levels of international youth chess play. By the time she was 16, Paikidze had won four European Youth Chess Championships and medaled in the World Youth Chess Championship an astounding six times, including two gold-medal finishes. In 2006, Paikidze moved with her family to Moscow, Russia. While she continued to represent Georgia in international events, she seized the initiative to combat some of Russia’s best, winning both the Moscow Women’s Championship and the Moscow’s Open Women Tournament, and finishing fourth in the Russian Women’s Chess Championship. With continuous strong play, Nazi achieved her Woman Grandmaster title in 2010 and her International Master in 2012. In 2016, she started teaching lessons on ChessUniversity.com's Prodigy Program chess course. Paikidze won the title of U.S. Women’s Champion in 2016, and recently participated in the 2017 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship in Saint Louis, Missouri where she placed second with a score of 7/11.

Awonder Liang is an American chess prodigy. He is an International Master, obtaining the title in 2015 when we was just 12 years old.

In 2011, he became the youngest chess expert in United States Chess Federation (USCF) history with a rating of 2000 at the age of 8 years and 7 days, a record previously held by Samuel Sevian. That same year he became the youngest to defeat an International Master (IM) in a standard tournament game, defeating IM Daniel Fernandez in the sixth round at the U.S. Open in Orlando, Florida. He would also go on to win the gold medal in the under-8 open section of the World Youth Chess Championship, earning a FIDE Master title. On July 29, 2012 in a standard time limit tournament game Liang became the youngest player ever to defeat a Grandmaster, GM Larry Kaufman; a record previously held by Fabiano Caruana.

IM Awonder Liang placed second in the 2016 U.S. Junior Closed Chess Championship at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, Missouri. There, he achieved the second place score of 6/9, just a half point behind Jeffery Xiong.

Born in Leningrad, Aleksandr Lenderman arrived with his family in Brooklyn when he was four.  Lenderman was part of the "dream team" at his high school, winning four straight national titles along with now International Master Salvijus Bercys. He played an important role in the book The Kings of New York. Lenderman achieved first place in the 2008 USCF Grand Prix, scoring higher than all the grandmasters he competed against by playing and championing in smaller events, including WCL tournaments. He finished first in the 2009 Atlantic Open, won the 2009 USCF Grand Prix, and was a co-champion of the 2009 U.S. Open. Lenderman earned three Grandmaster norms in quick succession in the summer of 2009 and formally obtained the title of grandmaster in 2010.

Lenderman played for USA team in the 2015 World Team Chess Championship in Tsaghkadzor and scored 5/7, ultimately bringing home the gold. He won the 2015 World Open after conquering Rauf Mamedov in an armageddon playoff.

Tamaz Gelashvili is a chess grandmaster from Georgia, earning the title in 1999 at the age of 21. His highest FIDE rating has been 2623, achieved in October 2007. He is currently ranked fourth in Georgia, and he has represented his country at several Olympiads over the years . In 2001 he tied for 1st with Yannick Pelletier, Mark Hebden and Vladimir Tukmakov in the 9th Neuchâtel Open and in 2006 won the Acropolis International tournament in Athens. In 2008 he tied for 2nd with Giorgi Bagaturov in the Gyumri International tournament and tied for 1st with Nigel Short, Vadim Milov, Aleksej Aleksandrov, Baadur Jobava, Alexander Lastin, Gadir Guseinov and Farid Abbasov in the President's Cup in Baku. In 2011 he won the 5th Annual Philadelphia Open.

He is noted for playing some unusual opening variations, such as 2.b3 in response to the Sicilian, French and Caro–Kann Defense. He also utilizes the Queen’s Pawn Game opening for both white and black pieces the majority of the time.

Alexandr Hilário Takeda Sakai dos Santos Fier is a Brazilian chess grandmaster, having attained the title in 2007. Fier won five gold medals at the Pan American Youth Chess Festival: in the under-10 division in 1996 and 1997, U12 in 2000, U14 in 2002 and U18 in 2005. He also won the South American Junior Championship in 2006, 2008 and 2009. Fier won the Brazilian Chess Championship in 2005, and won the 65 Anos da Federação tournament in São Paulo in 2006.

Fier won the Open of Sants, Hostafrancs & La Bordeta in Barcelona in 2009 and 2014. GM Fier briefly appeared in the Chess World Cup 2011, but faced elimination in the second round after defeat by his opponent Alexander Morozevich. Two months later, Fier won the 2nd Latin American Cup in Montevideo edging out Diego Flores in a tiebreaker. He competed in the 2013 Chess World Cup, but was eliminated after his loss to Baskaran Adhiban.

He typically favors the Sicilian opening for both white and black pieces, utilizing this method about 40-45 percent of the time.